The use of electronic door locks and locking systems has significantly increased over the last few years. Electronic locks not only provide enhanced security over existing locks, but also provide the convenience of permitting additional access keys, such as access cards or personal information number (PIN) type keys, to be added and removed without having to configure the lock cylinder, or to preform transaction logging, for example storing in the lock's memory the exact date and time when the lock was opened or closed, and the like.
Electronic locks, although being used for various purposes around the world, have found particular favour in the financial industry. In this regard, many banks utilise electronic locks for their automated teller machines (ATM) or vaults. It is estimated that approximately 2.2 million ATMs are currently in use, each of which generally carries a number of removable cassettes in which money or other valuables such as tickets or vouchers are stored. For obvious reasons, these cassettes need to be replenished from time to time, which is generally done at fixed intervals based on the expected usage of the machine. In order to enable the replenishment of the cassettes, ATMs are generally installed at premises which provide a secure method of accessing the ATM, for example through a security door provided at a back entrance of a room or cubicle in which the ATM has been installed.
Both the security doors as well as doors which enable access to the cassettes may be provided with locks, which may generally be opened by means of keys, or electronic solutions such as access cards, personal identification number (PIN) entry devices or fingerprint readers. A drawback typically associated with the use of physical keys is that a person responsible for replenishing an ATM needs to replenish several ATMs per day, thus often resulting in the person having to carry a large number of keys. This not only creates an inconvenience as the person needs to remember which keys fit into which door, but also poses an inherent security risk as the keys may be lost or stolen.
Furthermore, although the electronic solutions are not subject to the same drawbacks often associated with physical keys, at least part of an electronic solution, such as the PIN entry device or the access card reader, are invariably located externally of the room or cubicle and are thus often subject to vandalism, which may render them unusable.